This summer, join artists, curators, cultural leaders and city-builders for the second annual BUMP Urban Art Conference 2025, centred around the theme “Monuments & Memory.” Through panels, hands-on workshops and in-depth discussions, the conference tackles the evolving role of public art in a time of rapid development, cultural reckoning, and transformation.

Internationally acclaimed conceptual artist, writer and educator Ken Lum will be the keynote speaker for the 2025 Urban Art Conference. This marks Lum’s first visit to Calgary in over two decades, making it a major cultural moment for the city and the festival alike. Lum’s work spans photography, text and sculpture — challenging who gets remembered and how. A co-founder of Monument Lab and Chair of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania, Lum is the artist behind works such as East Van Cross in Vancouver and Pi in Vienna’s Karlsplatz. His address will open the conference with a reflection on the theme “Monuments & Memory,” inviting the public to reconsider the role of art in city-making today.

Across two days, panels will explore themes like artistic integrity in the branded city, the politics of Indigenous place-making, downtown revitalization and the fight against narrative flattening in storytelling. The conference will also highlight Calgary’s own underground culture with a panel, “The Sonic Underground,” investigating the role of music and nightlife in shaping a city’s soul. Workshops include a session with Mao Projects on transforming discarded materials into public art, and a Calgary Arts Development-led session on how artists can better engage community in their creative process.